So far, so good. The morning went much as yesterday's did, in that calls home were made, e-mail was answered somewhat, and breakfast was purchased from a mini-mart and consumed in Ueno park. It really is a pretty park. There are feral kitties there, who like to hunt the feral pigeons. Ah, the circle of life.
We decided to return to Odiaba, where I had reached my limit yesterday. As it was 9:30 at this point, we ended up having to do a bit of walking first. We walked to the National Museum of Emerging Technology, which basically turned out to be a science center. No surprise there, but before we saw the exhibits, we were treated to what can only be described as the most surreal planetarium show I have ever seen; while we were given translators, the content of the show was mostly a star machine showing us what I'd imagine was the night sky at various points, while at the same time a show about how the planets formed was playing on top of it. At one point a double-pendulum appeared on the screen, only to swing for about five minutes, multiply, fade out, fade in, and freeze, all while interpretive percussion was playing in the background, consisting of what I imagine were found instruments.
After that, we went on to see the exhibits. As far as science museums go, it was pleasant. And at JPY500 (with technicolor planetarium show thrown in,) it was certainly priced competitively. In the "Technology" section, there was a 3D racing game going on, with many different types of controllers. One was a steering wheel, one was a joystick, one was a pair of ropes used to control your horse avatar, one was a musical keyboard, and one was an oversized mug that you tilted to move. I don't think you could win, but that didn't matter.
They also had The Internet set up, or at least a subset thereof. It consisted of a series of ramps, where you put in black or white marbles in one place, designated a destination, then watched them get routed through the series of ramps. Ted Stevens would be proud, if a bit bewildered at the reference.
Afterwards, we went to Venus Fort. I think it's supposed to be a shopping mall directed at women, complete with a Women-Only day. They have shops with lots of shiny things, clothes, and fancy restaurants. The architecture is taken directly from Caesar's Palace in Vegas, complete with marble statues in a fountain, located at the middle. And the sky changes from day to night, by clever use of lighting.
And now, time for lunch.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment